


Prince's Return

by quietx



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Domestic, F/M, Kinda?, Light Angst, Multi, Uchiha Sasuke-centric, also a sasuke character study?, this was therapy for me after finishing the series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-24
Updated: 2020-07-24
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:35:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25477774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quietx/pseuds/quietx
Summary: It was strange, being back in Konoha after so much time spent away.[Sasuke returns to the village, and deals with the repercussions of two years away. A light fix-it fic, with hints of SS and SNS]
Relationships: Haruno Sakura/Uchiha Sasuke, Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 4
Kudos: 23





	Prince's Return

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally conceived as a Sasuke character study, but there's also some exploration of Naruto's character. This was basically a way for me to cope with how unsatisfied I felt with the ending's characterizations. I don't dislike the ending, it's just not super satisfying?  
> Anyway, please enjoy this piece of writing!

It was strange, being back in Konoha after so much time spent away. He had changed a lot, and the village had too. He’d heard, vaguely, that Pain had destroyed most of the village during his attack, but knowing that hadn’t really prepared him for how truly different it would be. The streets, the buildings, the technology was all different. On the rare occasions that he went out into the village, he grew nauseous, sick with the feeling that he’d lost a home that he’d never see again.

The leaders of Konoha may have failed him and his family, but it didn’t change that this place truly was his home. He could no longer reminisce about the streets he once walked, the academy he attended and graduated with two of his closest friends in the world. The school here now was not one he recognized. Now it was one where children weren’t trained to kill, an academy where students learn life skills and arithmetic and literature. A school where they don’t talk all day about what to do when your life is in danger, or how to throw a knife into someone’s chest. Though children could—and often would—train to be shinobi, it was no longer required. There was some relief in that. A sense of peace, a sense of stability, not an overbearing presence of looming war and political tensions.

Naruto had almost lost his life for this place. Sitting here, on the roof of a newly built apartment building where those left homeless from the war could reside, Sasuke understood why.

Following his pardon, Sasuke had been given free reign of the village—that too, was something Naruto had almost lost his life for. He had thought he would want to leave. He had thought he would run—run to solve his problems, run to find himself, run so he could forget what he had done—but this didn’t feel like the Konoha he grew up in. It didn’t feel like the Konoha that felt so oppressive when he was younger. This was a village that had lost everything, just like he had. And now, Konoha was a village full of hope for the future.

“Still maintaining your mysterious loner look, I see,” came a teasing voice from behind him. He took a deep breath as he turned to face Sakura. Another wave of nausea as the guilt hit him. He tried to kill her. Tried to remove her from his life when she only wanted more of him in hers.

Guilt wasn’t really his thing, he decided. Not that he could do much about that now.

“If I recall,” he paused as he turned back to the village again, watching the people below, “there was a time when mysterious loner was your type.”

She laughed. “It still is.” She sat down next to him, swinging her legs comfortably. “But I know that you’re just a poser. You’ve got soft spots.” She gave him a smile—a pinched one—one that told him she knew that he wouldn’t ever love her the way she loved him. A smile that was a result of his mistakes, his callousness, his cruelty, towards a girl who’d done nothing but chosen the wrong boy to fall in love with. A smile that had developed slowly, as he grew colder and colder towards it. A smile that he always used to ignore.

“Just not one for you,” he sighed. It felt like a failure to admit it.

She leaned back on her hands, looking up to the sky. “Just not one for me.”

“I didn’t—“

“I don’t need an explanation,” she cut him off. “I didn’t know what love looked like. You didn’t want to remember what it looked like. We were never meant to be.”  
He took another deep breath.

She was probably right.

She always is.

“He knows, though.” Sasuke bit the inside of his cheek as she continued. “I spent...I spent so long harassing him, telling him he was an idiot, telling him he’d never be a good ninja, let alone a normal person. I was the one with a family and friends and good grades, and somehow, he’s the one that actually understands love.”

“He always sees it, because he never had it.” Sasuke crossed his arms, and furrowed his brows. “I think we both get too caught up in the details.”

“I think he was the only one who actually loved the both of us.” Her laugh was wet, and sad.

He glanced at her from the corner of his eye, understanding the feeling. He thought back on his younger self with bitterness and sadness. That messed up kid, who couldn’t see the support group around him.  
Sasuke hummed in agreement.

“God, what a complete idiot,” she groaned. “He always was competitive, and I don’t even think he realizes he won this one. He’s probably the only one of us who’ll actually achieve the dream he introduced himself with.”

So long ago. That had been so long ago. Those stupid dreams. He supposed that he’d done pretty well on his own, killing his brother and such. It was ludicrous to think about restoring his clan now, though. He knows he’d be a terrible father, and even worse at passing along his heritage. He wished that there was someone—anyone—else to pass along the Uchiha legacy.

His stomach twisted painfully as he thought about it. He hadn’t realized that the tension between him and Sakura had eased so much.

“You got pretty far, I guess. I’d give you a C+. A passing grade for doing half of what was in your thesis,” she laughed again. This time, there was no veiled sadness, only amusement and smugness.  
“I’d give you a D,” he said, finally letting his shoulders relax as he fell into the conversation. “Points lost for giving your first kiss to Naruto.”

“Ah, but you can’t really judge, can you? He was your first kiss too.” Her voice had taken on a soft quality. It occurred to Sasuke that he’d never heard her sound like that before. So at ease and comfortable. Even when they were younger, she was always trying to impress him, make it seem like she was completely perfect. That persnickety defense mechanism that made her so frustrating to talk to sometimes.

This Sakura—the soft spoken, but oh-so-powerful kunoichi, who sat with her head high even though she was so relaxed—this was the Sakura that Naruto was enamored with. This was the Sakura that Sasuke had always failed to see.

He acted quickly. He leaned in, a hand on the nape of her neck, and kissed her.

It wasn’t meant to be romantic, not a confession of love, or reciprocation of the feelings she used to hold on to. This was—an apology, he supposed. An apology to the younger Sakura who loved him so dearly. An apology to the kunoichi in front of him that deserved so much better than what he’d given to her.

It was soft, and full of sentiment, and though he felt comfortable (melting, melting into this feeling) Sakura pulled away, a hand pressed to his chest, creating distance between them that felt so much more familiar than the kiss had.

She smiled towards the ground, her eyes closed.

“You shouldn’t be able to do that to me,” she sighed. There was no bitterness behind it, but no fondness either.

“I—“ he wanted to explain, to justify, to burn away the feelings like he could with all the physical world, but no fire in the world could burn away sadness.  
He already knew that, though.

“Stop doing that,” she reprimanded. Sasuke furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. He didn’t know what— “Stop trying to apologize to me. Stop self deprecating and trying to take all the blame for yourself. You’re the survivor of the Uchiha clan! You singlehandedly broke into the Five Kage summit! You saved the world!” She clenched her fists and pursed her lips. “You’re just being a coward, and you know it.”

“You’d know something about that,” he muttered under his breath, deflecting from the fact that she’d clearly seen straight through him. She’d known him for ages, of course he couldn’t shut her down that easily.  
Sakura’s laugh was high airy. She cupped his cheeks in both her hands, squishing his cheeks slightly.

“There’s my favorite Sasuke.” She pecked his lips lightly. “That’s the last kiss you’ll be getting from me, so you should remember it well.” She dropped her hands into her lap. He knew that even though he’d insulted her, this kiss was an acceptance, forgiveness to match the apology that he certainly owed her, that he owed to every version of her. The one she used to be, and the one she is now. And she knew—of course she did—that even when he snapped at her, called her a coward and annoying, he had the utmost respect for her, and who she’d become. He respected her just as he did Naruto, just as a good teammate would.

“Thank you,” he said, genuinely grateful for Sakura and her forgiveness.

He leaned back again, taking another deep breath. The nausea had faded for now. He was sure that as soon as he was back on the street, away from the protection of Naruto and Sakura and their good reputations, it would return.

“I really should be getting home,” Sakura admitted, standing up and brushing off her skirt. “I’m glad that I could talk to you.”

Sasuke nodded along, waving at her as she leapt from the roof onto the building below.

Home, she had said.

He was living with Naruto, currently. The old Uchiha compound and shrine was gone, now. And even though he himself had contributed to that destruction, it still felt like he had lost a part of himself—a part of his family. He’d lost something—lots of somethings—that could never be replaced. So perhaps it’s best that he wasn’t living alone right now. He thinks, also, that Naruto likes to be around him. Several mornings, he had seemed surprised to see Sasuke there, like he’d expected him to flee in the night, or run off like an escaped prisoner. Naruto had more trust in him than anyone else, but even he couldn’t shake the feeling that Sasuke wasn’t really here, that he didn’t belong here, like he was just biding his time until a better opportunity came along. Sasuke himself wondered if that was the case.

As he made himself dinner in their terrible, under furnished, barely functioning, size-of-a-postage-stamp apartment, he really didn’t think it was.

If he was biding his time, why stay here doing something so menial? Why waste his time making amends with Sakura and everyone else in the village if he was just going to abandon and hurt them all over again?  
He’d just put stew on to simmer when the door to the apartment opened with a loud crash. Sasuke probably would have attacked if he hadn’t immediately felt the warmth of Naruto’s chakra filling the room.

He heard Naruto slide down to the floor, and the clatter of a hitai-ate being pulled off (he hated that he knew that sound; knew the sound of it falling onto the stone of a rain-wet mountain, and the sound of it being tossed away). Then, a heavy sigh, the shuffle of someone standing, and footsteps.

“Has Iruka finally figured out that you’ve been sending clones to your special Hokage tutoring sessions?” Sasuke asked with a pinch of humor when Naruto slumped into one of two and a half chairs they had.

(The first two were a bit worn, they held up nicely though the lacquer had worn thin. The half chair was completely unstable, and had tipped over more times than they could count. Sasuke had no idea why they hadn’t replaced it, other than the complete lack of motivation to do so.)

He was expecting a snap. A quick denial. A ‘I only did that once!’ or ‘no one can prove that!’ That’s how he and Naruto spoke: with a provocation, and a response.

What did he receive? Another sigh.

“No, it’s nothing.”

Ah, so it was one of _those_ days.

Naruto was an unnaturally chipper person. Someone who was always trying to make the best of things, to look on the bright side, to see the very best in people. He was sunshine and happiness and fluffy animals. Not that he wasn't serious, but he was certainly a more pleasant presence than other people might be in his situation.

Except for on these days.

Sakura had always called these days ‘angsty,’ and told him to suck it up. Kakashi called them off days. He’d heard Yamato call them ‘Sasuke days’ once, and he didn’t quite know how to feel about that.  
Sasuke wasn’t sure what to call them. To him, they were off days, or down days. He knew what it felt like to be completely fine for long periods of time, and then to have a day where it felt like everything was wrong and like everything bad that had ever happened to him was now suddenly relevant and he needed to feel miserable.

In that way, he supposed they were Sasuke days.

Sasuke knew that pushing him wouldn’t do anything, only incite yet another noncommittal response.

“I sometimes...do you—“ Naruto attempted, before pursing his lips and furrowing his eyebrows. Sasuke stayed quiet, waiting for him to continue. “I’m working really hard to become Hokage, right?”

Sasuke hummed in response, leaning back on the counter to watch Naruto as he continued.

“Right, well, the village and everyone _likes_ me because I’m a war hero or whatever. Which sucks because it’s like all of my value suddenly came about after I saved people. Before that they all—you know. Everyone hated me,” he rambled, his hands moving along in gestures as he spoke. Sasuke nodded again, remembering the days when Naruto spent all his time by himself while people avoided him like an infectious disease. “And now, they all like me. And I kind of hate that because that’s stupid and if they can be nice to me now, why couldn’t they then?” He groaned and dragged his hands over his face. “That’s not the point.”

“What’s the point, then?” Sasuke asked, finally speaking up.

“The _point_ is that people say rude things around me! As if they weren’t horrible to me for years! Today, someone praised me for trying to be Hokage, and in the same breath told me that Gaara shouldn’t be the Kazekage because he _used_ to be a jinchuuriki. How is that okay? How—“ he made a frustrated noise in the back of his throat, running a hand through his already unruly hair. Then, he shut his eyes and took a deep breath. “It’s nothing. It doesn’t matter.”

Sasuke had to stop himself from rolling his eyes.

_Of course,_ he scoffed internally, _of course Naruto wouldn’t want to dwell on the negative._ It felt like just another way for Naruto to show that he was better than Sasuke. He was the kind of person that lets go of resentment, that moves on from negative thoughts, that refuses to gossip without all the facts. Of course Naruto was like that.

Naruto stood up and put his elbows on the kitchen counter, directly across from Sasuke.

“So? How was your day?” he asked, quickly redirecting the subject.

Sasuke pondered for a moment. He hadn’t really done much. He’d taken a nausea-filled stroll around the village, stopping into stores to purchase a few small items: shampoo to replace the bottle he’d just used the last of, a new set of bandages (because between himself and Naruto, they never seemed to have enough), a spool of thread so that he could reattach an Uchiha fan that was falling off the back of one of his shirts. Shopkeepers glared at him, but he never spoke to them, just handed over the money for his items and leaving as politely as possible. They surely couldn’t complain about innocent customers.

He had desperately wanted to train all day, but his current freedom of movement was almost entirely dependent upon him not using chakra, so that wasn’t an option. Instead, he took to the rooftops of the village, where it was quiet and calm, where he couldn’t feel the glares of passersby or the quiet hisses of _traitor_ in his direction.

And then—

“I kissed Sakura,” he answered, his voice flat. He figured it’d be the only thing that had happened today that would interest Naruto.

“ _What?_ ” Naruto asked, eyes wide. “So as soon as you’re no longer on duty, you start chasing skirts?” He raised a suggestive eyebrow—which Sasuke didn’t even know he was capable of—and seemed eager to know more.

“It’s not like that,” he said, avoiding his obnoxious friend’s gaze.

“Oh, so you’re just swapping spit for fun?” His tone fell a bit, like he was preparing for something awful in his next response.

“Don’t say it like that. You sound like Jiraiya.” Sasuke sent him a sharp look. Naruto rolled his eyes. “It was—we were just talking.” He didn’t know how to explain it, their non-romantic, strangely solemn kiss.  
“Right. I’ll remember to put that in my best man speech.” Naruto’s chuckle was well-humored.

Sasuke sighed. “Just shut up and get some food.” He flicked the stove off and pulled the pot from the heat.

Naruto looked him over carefully. There was so much tension in his form, his shoulders tight and the slight pinch to his eyebrows. He didn’t say anything for the moment, realizing that even though he might never admit this himself, Sasuke was tired from his day. Not physically tired, of course—it would take a lot more than a stroll around the village to tire out Sasuke Uchiha—but emotionally.

He would never claim to be smart, or that he was the sharpest knife in the drawer, but Naruto wasn’t an idiot. He knew that being back in the village was a burden on Sasuke, he felt guilty about it on days like these. Days when his closest friend seemed worn down from simply existing within the gates. He always had to remind himself that it was Sasuke’s choice to return, it wasn’t something that he had forced upon him, it wasn’t his fault that some days were worse than others.

He still wishes he could fix it, though.

They ate in silence, something that Sasuke simultaneously resented and appreciated. He hated when Naruto grew quiet like this, it was only ever a sign of him _thinking_ about something or another, which normally meant that things would just be more trouble for him later on.

Watching as Naruto prodded at his food, Sasuke felt that same swirl of guilt and nausea that he’d felt earlier when he was with Sakura. He would never feel like he owed as many apologies to Naruto as he did to Sakura (Naruto had made it abundantly clear that everything was forgiven), but he still owed Naruto his life. If not more. Naruto had fought for him, seeing the good in him even when he was about to put a fist through his chest or when he was ready to run him through with a sword.

The love and compassion that Naruto had shown him was not something that he could ever repay.

Sasuke opened his mouth to speak, to fill the silence with anything he could, but when he looked up, Naruto was already staring at him with bright eyes.

Thinking was over, then.

“Train with me tomorrow.” He spoke with so much sincerity that Sasuke wanted to punch him for giving out false hope.

“You know that my chakra usage is restricted,” he responded, voice flat enough to mask the disappointment behind it. It should be _more_ than obvious how desperately he wants to train, but he can’t. Not in the ways he really wants to.

“Then we’ll ask the council!” he responded, as if it were an obvious and easy solution.

“The council hates me.”

“No, no, hear me out,” Naruto said, gesturing with the spoon in his hand, his appetite revived by lively conversation. “The council assigned me to be your—your—oh, darn it. I’m the person who’s kind of in charge of you while you’re in between prison and being made a Konoha shinobi again.”

“Parole officer,” Sasuke supplied.

“ _Yes_. I’m your parole officer! According to Konoha law, if I submit an official claim saying that you’re, like, not crazy and that you’ve been on your best behavior, they _have_ to review the terms of your parole,” he explained, completely enthused by the concept. “They probably won’t make you a shinobi again, but we could probably convince them to let you use chakra within the village.”

Sasuke stared at him for a long moment. That was—shockingly insightful. He knew that Naruto had been taking courses on politics and economics and such. Things that would help him be the leader of a country. Sasuke hadn’t anticipated...anticipated this sudden knowledge of law and criminal justice. Not that he liked to consider himself a criminal, but Naruto’s knowledge was appreciated regardless of title.

“That sounds like a lot of paperwork. Are you sure that you can handle it?” he asked, instead of sharing the compliments that never seemed to get past his throat.

“It’s just two forms and a signature,” Naruto waved dismissively, shoving a spoonful of stew into his mouth. “I’ll do it in the morning and shove it at Kakashi-hokage-sensei once it’s done.”

“Just so that I can train,” Sasuke continued, his mind still swirling with the unusual amount of knowledge and confidence radiating off of Naruto.

He swears he was only gone for two years, but Naruto has grown five.

“Duh. You’re stupidly tense. It’s the least I can do,” Naruto said it like it was easy. As if he owed Sasuke the world.

“So even if you were to sign off on my good behavior, can you seriously say that I’m mentally and emotionally stable? If you lied to the council, wouldn't that just be worse for you?” Sasuke questioned.

“Hm. Well, have you used any chakra since being on parole?” Naruto had a pensive look on his face.

“No, of course not.”

“Have you talked with Orochimaru or any of the members of Team Taka?”

“No,” he answered, only partially honest. Karin and Suigetsu had sent him no less than 17 letters since he was back in the village, but he hadn’t responded to them. Not that it stopped them from sending letters.

“Have you done anything that would count as treason since you’ve been in the village?”

“No.”

“And have you attacked anyone since you’ve been in the village?”

“I might if you keep asking these stupid questions.” Sasuke raised a sharp eyebrow, and Naruto grinned.

“There you go. Mental health eval, completed.” Naruto was practically shining with smugness. “You’ll be training before the weekend comes.” He crossed his arms and leaned back, a shine to his eyes that made Sasuke want to punch him.

_Usuratonkachi._

“If the council approves it,” Sasuke corrected. He hated how excited the thought of training (with Naruto) made him. He wanted to rush towards the training fields and spar with all his might until they collapsed from exhaustion while they shouted about nonexistent cheating. He ached for that in his bones. A fight that wasn’t meant to hurt or maim or kill, but a fight meant to strengthen and encourage. A fight that would stretch him to his limits and make him yearn for more strength even though he’d acquired so much.

He also hadn’t had a chance to properly train with his rinnegan yet. He’d love to see Naruto’s rasengan overcome _that._

“They will,” Naruto said, his mouth full. “They can’t say no to me.” He winked and Sasuke threw his spoon at him. “Hey! I control your fate right now, you know.”

“Next time, I’ll throw the bowl.” The threat wasn’t empty, but it wasn’t real, either. Sasuke and Naruto both knew that this violence came from a place of fondness.

The rest of the evening ran smoothly. Naruto talked about the nonsense happenings in the life of a hokage-to-be. His idle chatter soaked into Sasuke’s bones like a strong sake, warming him from the inside out, his thoughts slowing down, his eyelids slowly drooping. He reclined comfortably, spread out on their ugly couch in their tiny apartment, tension bleeding out from his shoulders.

He was home. Tomorrow he could train. And for the first time in a long time, Sasuke slept completely dreamlessly.

**Author's Note:**

> I realized while editing this to post that I only start using italics after Naruto appears in the story? I'm not sure if that's because he has a really dynamic way of speaking or if it's because I think Sasuke is more fired up around him. Hmm.
> 
> come scream at me on twitter @quietlx


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